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The Click It or
Ticket/Operation ABC Mobilization plays a critical
role in the effort to keep people safe on our
nation’s roads and highways. Law enforcement
agencies nationwide, including the Mobridge Police
Department, are conducting Click It or Ticket
campaigns that incorporate zero-tolerance enforcement
of safety belt laws with a special emphasis on teens.
These efforts — coupled with paid advertising and
the support of government agencies, local coalitions
and school officials — result in dramatic increases
in safety belt use and will defend us against one of
the greatest threats to us all — traffic crashes.

Here’s a quick look
at Click It or Ticket:

What Is Click It or Ticket?
It is a high-publicity law enforcement effort that gives
people more of a reason to buckle up — the increased
threat of a traffic ticket. Most people buckle up for
safety. But for some people, it is the threat of the ticket
that spurs them to put on a safety belt. In Click It or
Ticket programs, law enforcement agencies are being
asked to mobilize to focus on safety belt violations and
publicize the stepped-up effort through news media and
advertising. It is the two-pronged approach that makes these
campaigns powerful: Not only are tickets issued to unbelted
motorists, but the surrounding publicity ensures that people
know they are more likely to get a ticket.

Do Click It or Ticket
efforts work?Click It or Ticket campaigns and similar efforts have
increased safety belt use in cities, States and even in an
entire region of the country. In May 2002, for example, the
10 States that conducted the most comprehensive Click It
or Ticket efforts saw the biggest gains, increasing
safety belt use by an average of 8.6 percentage points from
68.5 percent to 77.1 percent over a four-week period. The
national average is 75 percent. States that increased safety
belt law enforcement without publicizing the effort achieved
only an average gain of half a percentage point.

Why are law
enforcement officers concentrating on teens during the Mobilization?
Teens are at the greatest risk of being killed or injured in
traffic crashes. In 2001, 3,322 teens were killed in motor
vehicles crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration. This is nine teens a day. Many of
these deaths could easily be prevented by the consistent use
of safety belts. Sixty-five percent of the young people who
were killed in motor vehicle crashes were not wearing a
safety belt.

Why is law
enforcement participation critical?
Safety belt enforcement is not about writing tickets, but
about saving lives. There have been many incidents where an
officer issued a citation to someone who wasn’t buckled up
or didn’t have his or her child properly fastened in a
child safety seat — only to have that person or child
survive a serious crash shortly after the ticket was issued.

More
information

to go to the Facts page.

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